Tag Archive | China

Authorities crack down on community of thousands of east Asian Muslims, many of whom who had fled Chinese religious persecution

Foreign students read from the Qur’an at al-Azhar mosque in the old city of Cairo (AFP)

– Panic is spreading among Cairo’s Uyghur community as Egyptian security forces round up students in raids on houses, schools and mosques, as part of a crackdown apparently carried out at the behest of the Chinese government.

“The government has been making arrests for three months now, but it was mostly people with expired visas,” a Uyghur source in Cairo told Middle East Eye on Thursday.

“They don’t check for visas anymore. They just violently arrest, and we don’t know where they [those arrested] are now.”

Photos of ransacked Cairo flats began circulating on social media on Wednesday, with reports of security forces arresting even those with valid visas and others holidaying on beaches near Alexandria.

Meanwhile, students were reportedly hiding at home, but face being rounded up by Egyptian police. The MEE source said there were reports of sweeping arrests at al-Azhar University, where many Uyghurs were studying Arabic and Islam.

“They’re mostly arresting the young men,” a member of the Uyghur community called Sumaya told MEE.

“But I know of women who have been taken too, though we hide when we hear the government knocking on our door.”

The raids and arrests come after Chinese authorities ordered Uyghur overseas students to return home by 20 May, as part of a government move to screen political views and activities, reported Chinese media at the time.

Chinese government representatives have since reportedly shown up in predominantly Uyghur areas in Cairo, stopping by mosques and schools to order students return to China, members of the community told MEE.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged Egyptian authorities to disclose where those who had been arrested were being held, and to “not deport them back to China, where they face persecution and torture”.

HRW said it believed dozens of people have been arrested and were due for deportation.

Many in the Uyghur community claim that deportations will result in imprisonment in what they describe as death camps in China.

Other members of the community who abruptly left Egypt out of fear of being arrested reportedly often disappeared once they arrived in China.

“Some of our friends who went home just disappeared,” Maryam, a Uyghur, told MEE.

“We don’t know what happened to them. It’s not safe for us to go home.”

Egyptian authorities have not responded to MEE’s requests for comment at the time of writing.

Crackdown sows fear

Cairo is home to thousands of Uyghurs who largely come to Egypt to escape the Chinese government’s increasingly intrusive restrictions on religious freedom in their hometowns and villages. Others come to learn Arabic, study at the world renowned Azhar University, and experience life in a Muslim country.

But members of the community told MEE that visa renewals are now regularly rejected, and students without valid papers are banned from enrolling at Azhar University.

Uyghur students in Cairo told MEE that the community was increasingly worried about Egyptian authorities waiting outside Azhar University at dismissal hours to check student passports and potentially arrest Uyghur students.

Meanwhile, students received frantic calls from relatives telling them to get on the first flight back to China or else their parents would be thrown in jail, Uyghur sources told MEE.

Despite having been visible for many years on city buses and in the north-eastern suburb of Nasr City, Uyghurs are now rarely sighted in the city.

Following the May announcement, a group of Uyghur students in gathered to say goodbye at an ice cream shop in Nasr City’s Hayy-el-Sabey,’ where most Uyghur students reside.

Two Uyghur sisters, Salma, aged 19, and Maryam, 20, who had come to Cairo a year ago to learn Arabic, were flying to Dubai the next day. They told MEE they would not be able to return home because they feared persecution upon arrival.

Friends of the girls said that most students who could afford to relocate or had family outside of China booked flights to countries such as Turkey. The rest were stranded in Egypt, unable to safely go home or relocate to another country.

Three months later, the two sisters still reside with relatives in the UAE.

Chinese repression of the Uyghurs

Uyghur students say scarves, skullcaps, facial hair and veils are banned in the Xinjiang region.

Women, who were initially forbidden from wearing the colour black because they were told it was an extremist colour, are restricted from wearing anything that comes down below the knee. Meanwhile, women who dress modestly are threatened and profiled as extremists, members of the community told MEE.

At the same time, travelling between towns and villages in China is considered hazardous because they are dotted with checkpoints manned by heavily armed guards, and young males travelling in groups of three or more are targeted, harassed and often imprisoned.

Residents of Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan, are allowed one kitchen knife per household, which they must register. Cameras are installed in and outside mosques, and plans are underway to GPS track every car in the region. If a family or individual is caught studying Arabic or the Qur’an, they are imprisoned, and must pay between 10 and 100,000 rmb (up to $15,000) to get out of jail, said Uyghurs in Egypt.

Wealthy families who can afford to pay the fines often have their assets seized, while citizens are reportedly coerced or monetarily enticed to spy on their neighbours and are encouraged to report “dangerous” behaviour, such as prayer.

Coming from such a repressive climate in China, Uyghurs viewed life in Egypt as a veritable luxury, particularly as they were able to freely practice their religion, but now feel betrayed by a country they felt was a safe haven.

Sumaya, who came to Cairo two years ago to practice her religion more freely, is currently hiding in the home of an Egyptian friend.

She fears trying to leave because she heard of arrests happening at the airport as well.

“I am safe for now, but if the situation escalates, I fear the worst,” Sumaya told MEE.

Indonesia and China Support the Philippines in the threat from U.S. and ISIS*

The Philippines and Indonesia will jointly patrol the Celebes Sea this week to stop Islamist militants reaching the Philippines’ restive southern island of Mindanao, where rebels have seized a city, an army spokesman said on Sunday. The joint patrol is aimed at strengthening border security and improving interoperability, military spokesman Major Ezra Balagtey said in a statement.

The two countries’ warships will sail from the Philippines’ Davao city on Thursday.

“The coordinated patrol … is intended to strengthen the security of the Davao Gulf and the common boundary of the two countries in the southern archipelago, particularly along the Celebes Sea,” said Balagtey.

Regional governments fear fighters sympathetic to ISIS will cross maritime borders from Malaysia and Indonesia to join rebels who seized Marawi City five weeks ago. The coordinated patrol is the third in the region in a month as pirates and militants step up attacks on commercial shipping. (Reuters)

China Gives Millions of Dollars in Weapons to the Philippines to Fight Daesh

The Philippines are getting millions in weaponry from China in a move to fight Daesh. Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that Beijing has donated $ 7.35 million in weapons and ammunition to fight the terrorists.

Chinese weapons will contribute to the army of the Philippines in its fight against the terrorists, the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, said at a ceremony.

The automatic weapons were personally tested by the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, during the ceremony. He expressed sincere gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping for the gift.

Apart from the military assistance that these weapons will provide in the ongoing conflict in Marawi on Mindanao Island, the transfer of weapons also marks a new era in the relations between the armed forces of the two countries, the ambassador said. The Chinese ambassador also said that the second batch of military assistance is currently being assigned and will soon be delivered to the Philippines.

According to him, terrorism is the enemy of both China and the Philippines and it requires the armed forces of both the countries to expand cooperation.

The diplomat noted that the Chinese side is ready to contribute in the joint training of military personnel, an exchange of intelligence, and to conduct joint military exercises to combat terrorism.

Furthermore, China will donate 5 million Philippines pesos (about 100,000 USD) to the families of servicemen who died in battles with the terrorists in Marawi and to the wounded soldiers.

According to the official data, during the fighting about 400 people, including 290 fighters and 70 military personnel were killed.

Rodrigo Duterte said that China, being a “good friend, understands” the gravity of the situation in the fight with the militants.

How U.S.’ Special Forces Interference May Affect Fight Against Daesh in Philippines

Following the recent events, the Western media has noted that the President of the Philippines has started doubting his ability to rely on American aid.Recently, for example, he noted that he is not aware of any technical assistance from the U.S. to the Philippines troops fighting in Marawi.

The Philippines is linked to the United States by a treaty on mutual defense; for a long time, the country relied on American weapons exclusively.

However, according to Daria Panarina, an expert at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences,, Rodrigo Duterte has a good reason not to trust the U.S. now.

“In November 2016, the United States stopped weapons supplies to the Philippines. Back then, a large batch of rifles was to be shipped. The U.S. canceled this deal on the pretext that the president [Duterte] was conducting a very inhuman policy towards his own people, first of all, in his fight against drug trafficking in the country,” Panarina said.

She further said that if he plans to follow such an ultimatum from the U.S., Duterte would be wise to look for other partners. He was not going to follow the U.S. wishes and advice on how to run his own country as President.

“Now he is satisfied with any help from any country, especially if the weapons he receives are better than what the U.S. provided him with in terms of both cost and quality,” the expert said.

Over the years, the United States has been the main partner of the Philippines in all areas, including providing various weapons. However, as a rule, these were military vehicles which had already been written off, as well as airplanes and rifles. The armament was not new and often worn out.

Daesh-Linked Militants Attack Town in Southern Philippines, Occupy School

The expert further said that on the other hand, China makes an important partner for the Philippine President because it provides him with support in many sectors, primarily in the economy. Over the past six months, the parties signed agreements worth almost $ 25 billion.

Center for the World Economy and Development of the Chinese Institute of International Affairs Jiang Yuchun said that with the current President of the Philippines, there is a reliable basis for the progressive development of Sino-Philippine relations.

“China and the Philippines in recent decades have consistently maintained friendly relations. In recent years, there have been some disagreements over the issue of the South China Sea, to which the non-regional countries have considerably contributed, which damaged bilateral relations,” Yunchun said.

However, with the coming of Duterte, the Philippines chose a strategy of rapprochement with China, as a result of which bilateral relations returned.

“Moreover, in the sphere of economic support, China, to the best of its ability, invests in ASEAN countries, including the Philippines. The last decade is rightfully called ‘golden’ for the development of China’s relations with ASEAN. In the future we expect a ‘diamond period’ of relations,” he said.

He added that the increasing economic assistance between the two countries is a natural consequence of the development of these bilateral relations.

“In the future, appropriate contact and collaboration, especially economic cooperation, can be raised to a new, higher level,” the Chinese expert concluded.

A Sudanese boy rides a donkey past a U.N.-African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID) armoured vehicle in the war-torn town of Golo in the thickly forested mountainous area of Jebel Marra in central Darfur on June 19, 2017. (Photo: AFP)

The United Nations yesterday approved a nearly US$600-million cut to its peacekeeping budget following pressure from the United States to reduce funding to the world body.

The General Assembly approved by consensus the annual budget expected to total US$7.3 billion, down from the current US$7.87 billion spent on peace missions worldwide.

U.N. member states agreed to US$6.8 billion to finance 14 missions, but an additional US$500 million earmarked for peacekeeping in Haiti and in Sudan’s Darfur region will get final approval in December.

The United States, the biggest financial contributor to peacekeeping, had sought a nearly US$1 billion cut to the bill and the European Union had also pushed for savings to bring costs down to US$7.3 billion.

The budget, however, fell short of what U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had sought from member states.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the financing is “meaningfully smaller than what we had last year” but that the world body will “make every effort to ensure that the mandates are implemented”.

“We cannot overstate the value of peacekeeping,” said Dujarric.

“It remains the most cost-effective instrument at the disposal of the international community to prevent conflicts and foster conditions for lasting peace.”

U.N. officials have repeatedly argued that the cost of peacekeeping is a fraction of military expenditures worldwide.

Most of the budget cuts will come from the closure of the mission in Haiti, a sharp drawdown of peacekeepers in Darfur along with some downsizing to the large peace operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

After the budget deal was reached in a General Assembly committee on Wednesday, US Ambassador Nikki Haley claimed victory and vowed there would be deeper cuts in the future.

“Just five months into our time here, we’ve already been able to cut over half a billion dollars from the U.N. peacekeeping budget and we’re only getting started,” Haley said.

Washington pays 28.5 per cent of the peacekeeping budget and 22 per cent of the U.N.’s core budget of US$5.4 billion.

While the United States pushed for the biggest cut, European countries and Japan also wanted to rein in the budget while Russia and China did not put up opposition to moves to streamline missions, diplomats said.

China, Japan, Germany, France along with the United States are the five top financial contributors to peacekeeping.

Italian Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, whose country is among the top 10 peacekeeping financiers, said that while the cuts were “substantial”, the “operational activities in all locations have been protected and preserved”.

Ambassador Elbio Rosselli of Uruguay, whose troops serve in Haiti and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said better management of the missions could help cushion the blow from the budget cuts.

“It’s going to hurt,” Rosselli told reporters, but “there are problems in peacekeeping that are not exclusively related to funding”.

The Security Council on Thursday approved a major drawdown of peacekeepers from the UNAMID mission in Darfur but kept the force levels for the MINUSMA operation in Mali unchanged.

Yesterday, the United Nations officially closed its mission in Ivory Coast, ending its 13-year presence in the West African country.

The United Nations has about 95,000 peacekeepers serving in its missions worldwide.

There is a small courthouse from the ‘British era’, standing right in the centre of Hong Kong. It is neat, well-built, remarkably organized and some would even say – elegant.

Earlier this year I visited there with an Afghan-British lawyer, who had been touring East Asia for several months. Hong Kong was her last destination; afterwards she was planning to return home to London. The Orient clearly confused and overwhelmed her, and no matter how ‘anti-imperialist’ she tried to look, most of her references were clearly going back to the adoptive homeland – the United Kingdom.

“It looks like England,” she exclaimed when standing in the middle of Hong Kong. There was clearly excitement and nostalgia in her voice.

To cheer her up even more, I took her to the courthouse. My good intentions backfired: as we were leaving, she uttered words that I expected but also feared for quite some time:

“You know, there are actually many good things that can be said about the British legal system.”

I thought about that short episode in Hong Kong now, as I drove all around her devastated country of childhood, Afghanistan. As always, I worked without protection, with no bulletproof vests, armoured vehicles or military escorts, just with my Afghan driver who doubled as my interpreter and also as my friend. It was Ramadhan and to let him rest, I periodically got behind the wheel. We were facing countless detentions, arrests and interrogations by police, military and who knows what security forces, but we were moving forward, always forward, despite all obstacles.

From that great distance, from the heights of the mountains of Afghanistan, the courthouse in Hong Kong kept falling into proportion and meaningful perspective.

Anti-Taliban Afghan fighters watch several explosions from U.S. bombings in the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan December 16, 2001.

It was surrounded by an enormous city, once usurped and sodomized by the British Crown. A city where ‘unruly locals’ were being killed, tortured,

And it was not only Hong Kong that has suffered: the entire enormous country of China with one of the oldest and greatest cultures on Earth had been brutally ransacked, including its splendid capital – Beijing – that was invaded and almost totally destroyed by the French and British troops. For a long period, China was divided, humiliated, impoverished and tormented.

But the courthouse, a little neat temple of colonialist justice, now stood in the middle of the once occupied city, whispering about the days when it offered certainty and pride to all those who came to Hong Kong as colonizers, as well as to all those who served and licked the boots of their British masters.

The courthouse was providing confidence to people who were longing for one, just as they did during the grotesque and perverse days, as well as now.

Behind its walls ruled clearly defined and meticulously obeyed spirit of fairness: if one’s chicken got slaughtered, or if one’s tricycle god smashed by a hammer of a mad shopkeeper, the legendary British justice was administered promptly and properly.
Some people would argue, of course, that the entire colonialism was unjust, that the killing of tens of millions of people in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere was much more noteworthy than settling fairly and justly some domestic or real estate dispute. Such voices, however, have been always quickly silenced, or bought (with money, diplomas, or other means).

Certainly, the British Crown has been busy subjugating entire countries and continents, murdering innocent people, freely plundering and enslaving men, women and children. Tens of millions died in the British-triggered famines alone, on the Sub-Continent and elsewhere. But that was done “outside” the legal framework, and it was never fit to be discussed publicly in a ‘polite society’, by both the English people as well as by the émigré elites.

Now the U.K. has been absorbed by the ‘great’ Western Empire, governed by its offspring. Global genocides continue to murder millions. For those, no one gets punished, while the fines for speeding or not wearing seat belts are getting transparently dispersed among the servile citizens of the British Isles.

You kick your dog in public, and you could get arrested, then fined, or perhaps even thrown into jail. You shout at your girlfriend, she runs to police, and they open a ‘criminal investigation’ against you.

You shoot a few missiles at some independent country, killing dozens of innocent people, and it is business as usual. You overthrow some ‘unruly’ African government, and no court of justice, local or international, would even bother to hear the case against you, properly and seriously.

Alexander Thomson from ‘UK Column News’ in the UK, commented for this essay:

“British justice is fine for peer-to-peer disputes such as breakages and traffic accidents. You’ll most likely get a fair hearing. But at the macro level? The British and their offspring have pillaged entire continents. Where’s the justice there? If there’s none but “victors’ justice”, should that legal system be honoured by the nations of the world?”

I often wonder whether even the British citizens themselves should honor such a charade?

The renowned Canadian international lawyer, Christopher Black, has doubts about the entire international legal system which is literally dictated by Western countries, predominantly by the U.S. and U.K. He wrote for this essay:

“Instead of peaceful and mutually respectful relations between nations, adherence to the fundamental principles of the peaceful resolution of conflicts and disagreements between nations set out in the UN Charter, of the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement, the world is faced with ultimatums, bribes, threats and assault. Their brutality would be unimaginable if it was not so routine.”

The question is: should the legal system, which coerces dozens of countries all over the world, be taken seriously, even respected? Isn’t it ridiculous, even debauched, to honour the U.S. and British courts, considering that they are serving the most aggressive and morally defunct system in the world?

Christopher Black continues:

“The most important question that arises from the discussion of how to establish a just world in which every nation has equal rights and status, in which national sovereignty is respected and the peaceful resolution of international issues as a matter of course is what type of legal mechanisms and structures need to be established in order to achieve and maintain this equilibrium.

It is not a simple matter since laws and legal structures reflect the socio-economic structure of a society. This necessarily creates a conflict between different socio-economic and legal systems that is difficult to resolve. The legal systems of socialist societies with their emphasis on socio-economic protection and support of the workers, are completely different from those of the capitalist societies, in which the central role of law is to protect private property and ease the flow of capital, in opposition to the interests of the workers. This creates conflict between nations with different socio-economic systems…”

It is a well known fact that those systems that are antagonistic to the Western dictates get routinely attacked, even destroyed. Right now several countries are under direct attack from the West: from Venezuela to Syria, to name just two victims out of dozens.

On closer examination, it is all nothing more than a ‘mafia justice’, or call it a terror.

I refuse to respect such a system, including its courts and its entire farce called ‘justice’. To me, it is all ‘illegal’ and corrupt. If confronted, I’d refuse to accept the authority of the Western legal system; I’d just laugh in the faces of its judges.

Lawyers serving such a system are, at least from my personal point of view, nothing more than collaborators or at least – spineless gold-diggers.

During the Nazi era in Germany, family or real estate disputes were resolved fairly and briskly. However, that doesn’t mean that Slavs, Roma, Jews, or non-white people should have had any respect for the German ‘justice’ of these years.

Certainly, your goat could be avenged if slaughtered illegally, but the next day, no one would save you from going up in smoke from the chimney of a concentration camp crematorium.

From the heights of totally destroyed and miserable mountain villages in Afghanistan, all this is suddenly clear and ‘obvious’.

It is also very clear when observed from Syria or Latin America, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, where of course almost no Westerner would bother to travel.

Christopher Black concludes:

“Attempts to establish a world order in which a dialogue of civilizations is the norm instead of conflict between civilizations are foundering on a crude return to a “might makes right” attitude against which any attempt to insist on adherence to international law and norms, even common morality, is viewed as a weakness to be exploited.

The question therefore arises as to how nations and peoples can establish the necessary legal mechanisms to survive and flourish when there exist those who oppose any such mechanisms being established and act to destroy the mechanisms that do exist. The answer is to take the power from those who want this unjust world order, this world for the criminals. We know what is to be done. But that is not good enough. We have to determine how it is to be done.”

The first step is, surely, to refuse this criminal ‘justice’ system, even to mock it, and ridicule it.

To serve criminals is a crime itself. To legitimize this illegitimate system by pretending that justice could be served inside its frame is itself immoral.

A courthouse in Hong Kong is not a temple of fairness. To pretend that it is would be a cynical mockery, a ‘spit in the face’ to millions of those who lost their lives in China and all over the world, at the hands of the British and Western colonizers.

And one more comment about Western justice: if just slightly exaggerating, one could easily arrive to the conclusion that in a world ruled by brutal and unbridled imperialism, the only honourable place to dwell in is jail!

Some might question how exactly this is “Spirit Science”… So before I go any further, I’ll explain. “In the simplest sense, I wish to change the world. Revolution of light and colour, healing, transformation, spirit cities, people working together – global realization of Christ Consciousness.” – Jordan

I once asked Jordan what his original intent was when he began his spiritual journey and that is what he said. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, lets move forward!

After nearly a month, we finally got word from Facebook as to why our pages were unpublished…

“Hi,

Your Page has been unpublished for causing people to like or engage with it unintentionally in a misleading way. Our Page Terms state that: ‘Pages must not contain false, misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive claims or content.’ All Pages must comply with the Facebook Page Guidelines.

For Pages you’d like to launch in the future, please first make adjustments to ensure you’re providing a good user experience and meeting our policies.

Thanks,The Facebook Team”

Our page was wrongfully unpublished exactly 20 days before this (see my previous article about it here). Between the 4th and the 24th, nothing changed. That being said, there are only so many possible reasons for our pages to have been unpublished this time. Between all of the pages that we know of, we had well over 15 million followers and our content reached hundreds of millions of people in a week. How could that much traffic not bring them money? So if it’s not money related, why?

Which leads me back to something I mentioned in the article I posted the first time this happened…

“Let’s say this has something to do with the spiritual movement… Why would anybody want to remove/attack the pages/websites and why now? Well, at face value, it doesn’t seem that bad. However, when you look at other facts and then consider the possibility, it becomes rather interesting. If you’re going to attack a large group of people (a country), one of the first things you’d do is disable their means of communication. But why go after spiritual groups? Perhaps it’s because we are one of the largest and most tight-nit groups that have the mantra “if not us, who? If not now, when?”

Unfortunately, it seems as if my theory was correct after all… We are in fact under attack and being censored. Here are some facts that support this statement.

The day after this video was published, our page was unpublished (the first time).

There is a very interesting documentary that I highly recommend you watch called “Fed Up”. If another country were doing this to us, we would, without a doubt, go to war with them. Also note worthy is a particular episode of “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver where he talks about the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)… I feel as if now is a good time to remind you of something a wise man by the name of Martin Luther King once said. “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.”

Here’s something you probably haven’t seen, but is very important.

In case you still can’t see it, here are a few videos that should make things a bit more clear…

You thought Idiocracy was just a movie? I guess it’s not so funny when you realize you’re living it?

1961… Reminds me of something my father always told me. “If you forget your past, you are sure to relive it.” I recommend you pay very close attention and listen very carefully. Don’t just hear, but understand everything that is said.

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Remember what I said about government in my last article? I’m not calling you a slave, I’m pointing out a fact in hopes of helping you to understand why I am as I am and maybe inspiring you do stand with us to actually do something about it.

If money is no longer backed by gold, what’s it really worth? Who way back when gave value to gold? It’s not as if we had much use for it back then, right?

Also noteworthy is that Donald Trump did not win the popular vote and yet still became president of the United States Of America. Don’t take my word for it, here’s his tweet about it. He’s also under investigation for what amounts to treason… When I just googled “treason” the president of the United States Of America was the first search result. Kinda feeling as if I’ve opened the X files, in which I found a map that lead me through the twilight zone to the outer limits…

The issue isn’t so much that he was selected instead of being elected, the issue isn’t that our food is killing us or that our rights are being taken away one by one exactly as Hitler did or even that we’ve been at war for over 15 years for reasons still unknown. The issue is what we’ve done about it… We are the 99% but that doesn’t do us any good if we never stand together.

(S)he who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.
Aim not to become a (wo)man of success, but rather aim to become a (wo)man of value.
Actions speak far louder than words. Many say they care, but very few show it.

I don’t mean to fearmonger and I don’t like to present problems without also presenting solutions when possible. “All that is required for good to prevail is that good men and women stand together. The dark has no defense against the shining of light.” – Ray

If it’s light you seek, you need not look further than the edge of darkness.

Remember the thing I mentioned that we were building in my last article? There’s still much to do, but it’s live now! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, a solution. www.panictofreedom.com & www.designoffreedom.com are both live now, but there is still much work to be done. We’ll let you know when we’re ready.

Venezuela represents everything that the U.S. opposes in the region: socialism, anti-imperialism, economic independence via energy exports and a viable ally for China, Russia, Iran and other countries that oppose the hegemonic designs of Washington.

By Eric Draitser

An anti-government protester wields a shotgun taken from security forces during clashes in Caracas, Venezuela, May 8, 2017. (AP/Ariana Cubillos)

The corporate media continues to churn out endless stories detailing repression, state violence and socioeconomic collapse in Venezuela. Conspicuously absent from their stories, however, is the fact that much of the turmoil in the Bolivarian Republic is a result of an economic and psychological war being waged against the country by right-wing elements inside Venezuela and their backers in the United States.

Naturally, this charge has been dismissed out of hand by the imperial stenographers at the New York Times, Washington Post and The Economist, who continue to insist that there’s nothing at all nefarious going on in Venezuela aside from the “corrupt dictatorship” led by President Nicolas Maduro. Of course, were there real journalists covering Venezuela, they’d make note of the fact that a campaign of economic and psychological war, targeted assassinations, and corporate intrigue have helped plunge the country into an existential crisis.

Rather predictably, none of those factors are incorporated into a well-rounded analysis of the situation in Venezuela; instead, it is sensationalist headlines and narrowly defined issues that grab the media spotlight. And perhaps no concept is more taboo within elite media circles than the strategic imperatives of the U.S.-led system of global political and economic hegemony that dominates the world. No, for the yellow journalists employed by the likes of Newscorp, Comcast and Amazon, Venezuela is just another wayward child in need of a stern rebuke and hand-holding back to the path of the good little oil colony.

Ultimately, the empire’s beef with Venezuela is two-fold. First, it is a country that has attempted to free itself of the architecture of neo-colonial domination that the U.S. and other global powers use to control the Global South. Secondly, Venezuela represents everything that the U.S. opposes in the region: socialism, anti-imperialism, economic independence via energy exports and a viable ally for China, Russia, Iran and other countries that oppose the hegemonic designs of Washington.

Regime change is the ultimate objective in the destabilization of Venezuela, a bringing to heel of the rogue state in order to serve Washington’s global objectives. The U.S. thirsts for the reversal of the Bolivarian Revolution and the legacy of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Target: Venezuela

A mural featuring an image of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was defaced in the Bronx borough of New York, Tuesday, May 9, 2017. (AP/Seth Wenig)

There is a misconception spreading through the Beltway like an airborne virus, infectious in its obliviousness to reality: the idea that the administration of President Donald Trump is so bogged down by scandal and controversy that it cannot achieve any geopolitical and strategic objectives. In fact, the opposite is true. Like a cornered animal, Trump and his team are exceedingly dangerous, both in their unpredictability and, strangely enough, also in their predictability.

And when it comes to Venezuela, their strategy is transparent.

Oil reigns supreme in the minds of Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the rest of the administration. In the case of Venezuela, oil remains the lifeblood of its economy. So in a very real sense, the White House and State Department’s interests converge with the economic imperatives of corporate America in the Bolivarian Republic.

Tillerson represents perhaps the perfect embodiment of U.S. government attitudes toward Venezuela. A slick oil man through and through, Tillerson has long sought to destabilize Venezuela in an attempt to reassert ExxonMobil’s supremacy in the country.

Venezuela’s recent rocky history begins with Chavez’s nationalization of the oil sector under the state oil company PDVSA in 2007. The Chavez government offered ExxonMobil book value for assets that it intended to assume control over, while the Tillerson-led company demanded market value, which they priced at roughly $15 billion. Eventually, the World Bank’s arbitration court ordered Venezuela to pay $1.6 billion to ExxonMobil.

But ExxonMobil’s anger at Caracas was certainly not assuaged with that settlement agreement. In fact, the following decade saw ExxonMobil step up efforts to destabilize Venezuela’s socialist government using a variety of tactics.

None have been more potent than Venezuela’s border dispute with Guyana. At the heart of this border dispute is energy and the billions of dollars in profits likely to be extracted from the offshore territory. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), “The Guyana Suriname Basin [is] 2nd in the world for prospectivity among the world’s unexplored basins and 12th for oil among all the world’s basins – explored and unexplored.” The basin, which stretches from eastern Venezuela to the shores of northern Brazil, is one of the major prizes in the world for energy corporations and governments alike.

Indeed, the USGS estimates that roughly 15 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 42 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves lie under the basin, just waiting to be extracted. Such staggering economic potential has made the territorial waters off Venezuela and Guyana highly sought after, especially since contesting border claims make legal obstacles to exploration far more surmountable, as they allow companies to deal with a compliant government in Georgetown, rather than an independent one in Caracas.

“Under Secretary Clinton, the State Department set up a program called the Energy Governance and Capacity Initiative. The program aims to both promote fossil development and prevent the ‘resource curse’ by providing ‘independent oversight’ of the oil and gas industry in nascent oil states. The program is currently helping the Guyanese government write profit sharing agreements, environmental regulations, and develop a strong rule of law to counterbalance corporate power.”

An effigy representing Judas Iscariot, with a sign that labels it also as “Mr. Exxon”, referred to the Texas-based Exxon Mobil oil corporation, is burned during Holy Week in Caracas, March 23, 2008. (AP/Howard Yanes)

In other words, the U.S. State Department oversees the program that is literally writing the regulatory and financial architecture that will govern energy extraction in Guyana. And Tillerson, the former CEO for ExxonMobil, is the top official at the State Department. The conflict of interest is clear as day.

Indeed, ExxonMobil has effectively made Guyana into a subsidiary. As the Washington Post noted:

“…countries such as Guyana that have no existing oil industry are considered ‘frontier’ locations, and typically offer the most lucrative terms to foreign companies willing to invest. Guyana’s foreign partners stand to earn 60 to 65 percent of profits… a far larger share than what more established nations are willing to offer investors.”

Does anyone really believe that the State Department is not going to target Venezuela when it is led by a man who has fomented conflict with Venezuela, is raking in billions from Venezuela’s neighbor and has a long-standing vendetta against the Bolivarian Republic?

In fact, Tillerson’s oil goons have already uncorked the champagne numerous times this year, having announced multiple oil finds off the coast that are worth billions. Naturally, this is as much political as economic. For Tillerson and Trump, every barrel of oil extracted from Guyana is a thumb in the eye of the Venezuelan government.

Oil as a geopolitical weapon

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro fist bumps a worker of the state-run oil company PDVSA during a visit to the Orinoco oil belt in Venezuela in 2013. (Photo: Miraflores/AP)

However, it would be a mistake to assume that U.S. policy toward Venezuela revolves exclusively around the profits to be made by ExxonMobil and other oil companies. While that is undoubtedly a factor, ultimately it is about political leverage and strategy vis-à-vis rival powers and power blocs.

One must also consider Saudi Arabia, which closely trails Venezuela in terms of proven crude reserves (22% of OPEC reserves). The centrality of Venezuela should be immediately apparent. Installing a right-wing, pro-U.S. government in Venezuela would mean that the U.S. would effectively control, or at least have significant influence over, nearly 85% of OPEC production (Venezuela and the Gulf monarchies), thereby isolating Iran within the grouping. Put differently, Venezuela is the only thing keeping OPEC from being a plaything of Washington and Wall Street.

Russia and China also figure centrally in this calculation. With Venezuela under Washington’s boot, Moscow and Beijing would be significantly weaker, as they would have no influence over OPEC. Nor would they be able to satisfy each other’s needs alone – Russia needs consumer goods and imports far beyond what China can provide, and China needs energy and other raw materials far beyond what Russia can offer.

In effect, regime change in Venezuela would cut the legs out from under Moscow and Beijing.

And with the takeover of the government by the right wing and Goldman Sachs, Brazil’s oil exporting potential flipped overnight from a liability to an asset for Washington and Wall Street. Trump and Tillerson seem to have a similar vision for Venezuela.

The Sino-Venezuelan partnership

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, right, chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping after a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. (AP/Andy Wong)

For decades, corporations in the U.S. saw Venezuela as little more than an American possession, an oil colony whose dependence on U.S. exports made it little different from a true colony in the traditional sense of the word. However, with the ascendance of Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution, Venezuela ceased to be a dependent client of the U.S., and instead became a political adversary.

One key aspect of Venezuelan economic relations with other countries that has undoubtedly rubbed strategic planners the wrong way has been its ongoing partnership with China. Under Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has signed countless deals with Beijing, many of which are based on an oil-for-credit framework wherein Venezuelan oil underwrites Venezuelan borrowing from Chinese banks. The Chinese cash has been used to stave off default and pay the financial obligations of the Venezuelan government.

Beyond that, Venezuela and China have inked agreements in the areas of energy, mining, finance, infrastructure and agriculture. There is also the Joint Chinese-Venezuela Fund, which finances infrastructure projects and economic development in the Bolivarian Republic.

In February 2017, China and Venezuela signed a raft of agreements, including the construction of a refinery in China that will process 400,000 barrels of crude per day, 70 percent of which will come from Venezuela. The deals totaled $2.7 billion.

But Russia’s ties to Venezuela are not simply about mutual enrichment, there is also a somewhat predatory aspect to the relationship, one that is likely making observers in both Washington and Caracas wary. Russia’s $1.5 billion loan to Venezuela in November 2016 came with the condition that the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA pledge a 49.9% stake in Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of PDVSA, as collateral for the loan.

This means that Russia’s state oil company Rosneft, run by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close friend Igor Sechin, could control much of Venezuela’s economic clout. Translation: Russia wants Venezuelan oil to use as leverage against the U.S.

Venezuela has become a geopolitical flashpoint in recent years. As the country has moved forward on the path of socialism and anti-imperialism, it has increasingly been targeted by a wide range of destabilization tactics, as well as the collapse of global oil prices in 2014 and 2015 that crippled the Venezuelan economy.

The future of the revolution?

A government supporter holds an image of Venezuela’s late president Hugo Chavez, during a march in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (AP/Fernando Llano)

Now, with Trump and Tillerson at the helm of the imperial warship, it seems that the target on Venezuela’s back has grown larger still. And with the right-wing resurgence throughout Latin America, strategic planners might feel that it’s only a matter of time before they achieve their objective: the destruction of the Bolivarian Revolution and a return to Venezuelan dependence on the U.S.

But while it seems that the U.S. is in control, there’s just one small issue – chavismo, the political ideology associated with the ideas and governing style of Hugo Chavez.

While Washington won’t officially admit it, there is a fear that any direct intervention in Venezuela could trigger a mass outpouring of anti-U.S., pro-Chavez sentiment. The U.S. government hopes that Venezuela will collapse from within, thanks in large part to the millions of dollars spent by USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy to fund the right-wing opposition and other anti-government interests.

The trouble is that, despite the economic instability and destabilization, tens of millions of Venezuelans have made it clear that they’ll never accept being put in colonial chains again. And as the right wing demonstrates and demonizes, defenestrates and destabilizes, the revolution continues.

The question in the coming months will be whether China and, to a lesser extent Russia and Iran, will recognize that relations with Venezuela are not simply about money and profit, but about gaining leverage against the U.S. Will Venezuela be seen in its proper context as the frontline in the fight against the U.S. empire? Or will it be left to fend for itself as the imperial dogs of war howl for the blood of the Bolivarian Republic?

China has began the logistical groundwork for the mass collection of DNA from Uighur Muslims of the Xinjiang region, human rights observers have said.

Police in the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region confirmed to The Associated Pressthat they are in the process of buying more than $8.7 million worth of equipment to analyse DNA samples.

Human Rights Watch observers said they have witnessed evidence of almost $3 million in extra purchases related to DNA testing.

They added that such a collection programme could be used for authorities to justify increase their political control.

The decision comes after Chinese authorities allegedly required Xinjiang residents to submit DNA samples in 2015, as well as voice records and fingerprints.

Chinese authorities who are determined to counter “Islamist extremism” among Uighur Muslim have implemented very draconian measures to fulfil their political objectives.

Policies included banning women from wearing the hijab and niqab, prohibiting men from keeping beards, forcing Muslims in the public sector not to fast in Ramadan and mandatory satellite tracking devices for vehicles.

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Quote…

Peace be upon you and peace be upon us.
May You be in peace and may we be in peace.
Peace be upon those who returned the greeting and even upon those who did not.
Peace, in the name of the lord of peace, the lord of mankind, the god of eternity.
Peace in which we prospered.
Peace mixed with the earth of this country.
Peace in which we no longer live.
Peace which no longer lives in us.
Peace we keep an eye on while it packs its bags.
To abandon our lands, little by little.
And it is replaced by surrender and submission to an islamisation in which there is no islam.
As if the islam of our grandparents no longer had anything to do with us.
Do you know why peace is abandoning us?
Do you know why darkness is all around us?
To put it simply, because we are a society that fears.
We are a society afraid of difference.
My words will not please some of you, or most of you, or all of you - i know.
But i will say them because i refuse to be one of the herd.
We are a society which refuses to admit that it is a society that lives in ignorance.
We are a society that shots with all audacity and pretends that it carries a different message.
We are a society that loves to claim superiority without having a valid reason.
And pretends that it is an educated society. It is sickening!
Among us, the acceptance of difference is nothing but a cover.
The difference in colour does us harm.
The difference in shape does us harm.
The difference in thinking does us harm.
The difference in religion does us harm.
Even the difference in gender does us harm.
That is why we try to kill any difference in our midst.
We have turned into a lethal poison for each other.
We are a society more stupid than stupidity itself.
Yes, we are a society more stupid that stupidity itself.
We fight over silly things, over delusions, over superstitions
While always refusing to look into the root of the problem.
And none of us is innocent of that. No!
No citizens nor politicians.
No those who find comfort in silence.
Nor those who pretend to be saints.
Nor those who follow the west blindly.
Nor those who pretend to go back to the glory of the caliphate and the slave markets.
And to the amputation of the limbs of those who differ.
Today, let us try to look inside ourselves
Inside the depth of our souls.
Let us try to embrace our souls.
Let us try to embrace our differences with our souls.
Here i am, before you, with my colour, with my hair, with my poetry, with my peculiarities, with my ideas.
I am not afraid of you.
I don’t fear that you’re different from me because i am part of you and you are part of me.
Let us create art. Let us grasp the dream.
So we can erect a culture without stupidity,
So our sophistication becomes the best of caliphates.
Let us melt away the traditions, the classes, the types, the ideas, the colours and the religions.
So we see nothing except the human being.

Dance of the Heart

Rejuvenate your Life with Aloe Vera

The pain you create now is always some form of non acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is.

On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgement.

On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity.

The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment , and this in turn depends on how strongly you are identified with your mind.

The mind always seeks to deny the Now and to escape from it.

In other words, the more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer.
Or you may put it like this the more you are able to honour and accept the Now,the more you are free of pain, of suffering and free of egoic mind.

Why does the mind habitually deny or resist the NOW?

Because it cannot function and remain in control without time,which is past and future,so it perceives the timeless Now as threatening.

Time and mind are infact inseparable .

Sunday Wire

Reader’s Reflections…

From Robert on San Francisco Judges Dismiss 66,000 Arrest Warrants against the Homeless*

Living on the streets cuts an average of 25 years from a person's life and degrades the quality of life for everyone. Another feature of the homeless population in San Francisco is that many of these people are simply too ill to care for themselves. We're almost half a century into the failure of the social experiment that closed the State Hospitals and no closer to ending the experiment now than when our media first noticed the experiment had failed in the 1980's.

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From Chatty on One Corrupt President Ousted*
What do you know, a democratic breath of fresh air SOMEWHERE in the world...amazing. I'm glad the people's voices were heard and the police did their jobs. Fantastic, and I hope South Korea can heal from this and get good leadership.

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From Joann on One Corrupt President Ousted*

Such a sorry business, sorry for the South Korean people, and sorry for former President Park Geun-hye (so foolish and weak). But I am very glad truth was revealed, and we may hope for fair punishment, and perhaps rehabilitation, involving prison time. This needs to become a world-wide trend.

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From Necltr on World Bank Declares itself Above the Law*
World Bank, World Loan Shark, to use selected politicians and troops to take over every nation and all of humanity

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From TheChattyIntrovert on India’s Cashless Villages not Really There Yet, But the Nightmare Has Begun*

I'm too paranoid to believe in a cashless society myself--too much identity theft here in the states, and too damned easy when everything's done electronically.

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From Mark on Jury Refuses to Convict Activist for Shutting Down Pipeline*

This is why the ruling elite have nearly eliminated jury trials.
If you didn’t know that your democratic rights to trials by jury had been eliminated for everything but felony charges, see http://americanjurypower.org/home/no_right.php and don’t miss the supreme court case at the link in that article in which 5 so-called conservative, strict constructionist justices found an invisible word in 2 clauses in that quaint old constitution in the ruling elite’s latest effort to convert a justice system designed to be controlled by the people into one controlled by the ruling elite.

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From N on Scientists Find Fluoride Causes Hypothyroidism Leading To Depression, Weight Gain, and Worse…*
For ambitious global tyrants, fluoridation is part of a win-win-win-... program; for at least 6.5 billion people it is lose-lose-lose... Lose mental capacity of ourselves and children, lose length of life, lose, free will ... For the Globalists, win a servile, depopulated humanity with no ability to know what is happening to them, let alone a capacity to solve their problems.

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From M… on New Report Exposes Rockefeller Dynasty’s Role in “Climate” Scam*
John D., Sr. had a brother, William Avery, with whom he founded Standard Oil and worked until William's death. The families still work cooperatively, like the Rothschilds, but in a smaller way. When you think of petroleum and banking in this country, think Rockefeller. Their man Nixon took us off the gold standard and prevented the silver certificate, replacing precious metals with the petrodollar. Think of global power possibilities with a monopoly of that liquid black gold, especially when accompanied with the fiction of supply limitation held for many decades.

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From Neben on The Taino of the Caribbean: the People Who Do Not Exist

I am Taino and Caiqueto, living in Georgia. We must unite here in the continental U.S.

My family are indigenous to "Hispaniola", "Puerto Rico", Aruba and Curacao. I have family members in Florida, New York, and other states.

We do and have always existed. These settlers and colonists need to be told our lives matter.

Even if our African brothers and sisters were brought here, or even travelled here on their own (many did), they became us. Not we became them. When you immigrate you assume the tribal identities and customs of the host nation. These colonialists know this so they lie and say our people no longer exist, and/or say that only mixed people and descendants of black slaves exist in the Caribbean. These are all lies. They have brainwashed people into voiding our birthright and inheritance!!!!

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From Chief Pedro Guanikeyu Torres on The Taino of the Caribbean: the People Who Do Not Exist

I find this blog article most interesting and it made me smile at the same time to see an old letter that my tribal council and I had published in Puerto Rico some 46 years ago and addressed to the Puerto Rican people as it make me feel really old today at 65 year of age today. Respectfully yours, Chief Pedro Guanikeyu Torres, Jatibonicu Taino People of Boriken (Puerto Rico) Tribal Government of the Jatibonicu Taino People of Puerto Rico

Moral Tales

“To be in ‘Islam’ is to be in that state of willingness to surrender, to let go of anything. It is the beginning of the awakening of intelligence . If you’re willing to let go of everything, whatever anxieties, fears, expectations , or desires you have, then your energy is available. Your intelligence sharper. Your actions more successful because you can see whether they relate or not.” – Sheikh Fadhlalla Haeri

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Community Notice Board

The topocentric New Moon Conjunction for the lunar month of Sha'aban will occur on Wednesday, the 26th of March 2017, at 22:32 AEST (10:32pm Sydney time).

The correct date to observe the crescent of Sha'aban is upon sunset of Thursday, the 27th of April 2017.

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A Sacred Conversation
Tasting the Sweetness of Prayer and Worship by Unraveling the Secrets Within. Practical steps in improving Khushu’ (Inner Concentration) in Salah and other forms of Worship in Everyday Life.
The greatest month descends upon us very soon, the light of Ramadan is fast appearing! Ustadha YASMIN MOGAHED (USA) delivers this FULL DAY Course for the 1st time ever highlighting and demonstrating Key Practical Steps in improving one’s daily relationship with Allah.
The course will cover:
Life’s Forgotten Purpose: Prayer
Practical Steps in Improving One’s Salah and Khushu (concentration)
Worshipping Allah in Every Day Life
Why are my prayers (Dua) not answered? Steps in getting Duas answered.
Following faith in testing modern times, steps in upholding identity.
Developing a sacred relationship with Allah
Searching for God in Everyday Life
SPECIAL FEATURE FOR THE 1ST TIME:
Exclusive Launch and Live Interview based on Yasmin Mogahed’s NEW Book: Love and Happiness. Purchase the copy & have it signed on the day!
Open Q&A Session
Special Guest Speaker:
Ustadha Yasmin Mogahed (USA)

Price: Early Bird discount: £30

Price after 5th May 2017: £35
Date: Sunday 21st May 2017
Time: 10:30am-6:30pm (Doors open from 9:30pm)
Venue: London Muslim Centre (Full details upon registration)
For more info and to book, please visit: www.alburujpress.com

The Radical Middle Way
{Surely they who divided their religion into parts and became sects, you have no concern with them; their affair is only with Allah, then He will inform them of what they did” – An.Anam 6:159).